


Fear of Fireworks

by cuddlesome



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bickering, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Fireworks, Lightsaber Battles, Mustafar, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Pre-Relationship, Rey can't swim, Sharing Clothes, the prequel trilogy gets referenced for a hot second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-12-19 01:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11887416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlesome/pseuds/cuddlesome
Summary: They fight, as they are wont to do, in a fairytale backdrop destined to be effused with light.





	Fear of Fireworks

Mustafar. Kylo Ren has never had a more perfect, yet hellish, location  for meditation. The base of his grandfather’s castle radiates the heat it has absorbed at his back and the viscous blood of Mustafar’s lava flows exudes against his front. The glow penetrates his eyelids. His eyeshade might have protected him from it somewhat, but he had to take off his helmet for fear of having it melt and seal itself to his face.

 

(Pain and impracticality aside, would having his face hidden forever really be so bad?)

 

Kylo tries to moisten his lips, but his leathery tongue scrapes them more than anything. He had stripped himself of his cape and gambeson, but he still sweats profusely. Any closer to the lava and his fair skin would start to blister. 

 

He cannot go back inside to find relief in the form of water and cool air just yet. He has to suffer. 

 

His master was right. The dark side is strong here. Despite the Supreme Leader’s orders to maintain balance within himself, Kylo did not even begin to fight the temptation to come to the volcanic planet after learning something of his grandfather’s fate on it. 

 

The Force slips away from him whenever he tries to get in touch with events past, refusing to show him any visions. In his lap, his hands curl into loose fists.

 

Focus. Focus!

 

The lava is molten and glowing now, but it has the capability to harden into void-black rock. He has to concentrate on the potential for his fiery rage to cool and become something strong and solid he can use. That must have been what happened with Darth Vader, surely. He does not know for sure. When it comes to his grandfather, his legacy, everyone always lies.

 

Kylo’s fists tighten and his right hand itches to grab the lightsaber at his side. He has been here for an indeterminate amount of time, perhaps hours, perhaps days. If he thinks about it too hard, his body screams for him to nourish it and quench his thirst. He shakes his head.

 

Not helping by any stretch is the fact that  _ she  _ is training using water. 

 

The tides are more constant than the sudden spurts of lava. She switches from saltwater to rainwater and back again in the time that Kylo tries to meditate. He tastes them both.

 

Can she feel the crushing, deadening heat around him? Probably, but she forces it back and back and back like the crash of a saber forcing another away at the end of a huge arc, ghost blue driving down crackling red.

 

Even as he feels reproach for Rey's interference in his meditation, something else, something he has been looking for, arises in his head. Kylo scrabbles for the sudden link to the past. Silhouettes form in his vision, ink on the glow of the lava against his eyelids.

 

_ Betrayal. Hatred. Pain. _

 

_ It figures that she would do it here. While his hands are still wet with the blood he spilled, all for her, she comes to him on this hellish planet and lies to his face. He remembers when he used to believe her. When they were together in her home and they were in love, despite everything, and nothing in the galaxy seemed as important as her. Holding his wife. Laughing with her. Feeling the softness of her home planet. _

 

_ Now he feels only hatred burning through him and he reaches out to choke her-- _

 

_ Confusion. Sadness. Painpainpain. _

 

_ Here. Why is he here? This is not the first place she would think to run to if in danger of being caught with the other Jedi. Unless what Obi-Wan had said about the younglings was true, but it can't, it can't be true. Not him. Not her husband. Not like this. The fields of Naboo feel so far away. The pleasant memories of him are breaking under the strain of seeing him this way. _

 

_ She can't breathe and he's hurting her and the baby what about the baby-- _

 

Kylo gasps under the weight of the emotions that are his and not his.

 

And then, just as suddenly as it had come, the vision is gone. Kylo is alone in the sulfurous heat.

 

Naboo. He can feel the Force tugging his heart and mind to go there. The images of the water and rolling fields and cloudless skies hardly suit the image of his grandfather that he has crafted here on Mustafar.

 

Those people... who were they? Deep down, he knows, but he's too shaken to let the thought form completely. 

 

Another crash of waves from Rey forces Kylo out of his reverie. The salty spray peppers the back of his still searing-hot mind. He stands, muscles stinging with how stiff he forced them to be for so long, and returns to his grandfather's castle. He knows where he must go next. There's nothing else for him here, not for now.

 

 

Naboo has more people than Rey ever imagined. It was silly, considering she knew Jakku kept her sheltered from most of the galaxy and Maz's cantina should have prepared her somewhat, but it still surprised her. Only now, surrounded by hundreds of species all mulling about in a crowd headed to the same event does she grasp how isolated she really was.

 

In addition to the hundreds of people in Theed, there are a hundred more smells and sights and sounds. Rey cannot get enough of the booths set up for the festival. She sees a variety of items she could potentially buy as keepsakes, but she clings to the allowance that the general had given her. It's more credits than she's ever had at once.

 

She wishes Finn were with her. His First Order intel was invaluable to the Resistance, though, and they couldn’t afford to give him some time off for a vacation like their resident Jedi-in-training. At least he got to see her off before she left with a hug and advice to try some Nabooian cuisine while she was there. 

 

Rey finally selects a bread bun filled with jelly at a food stand. She likes the tangy filling so much that she buys three more, taking one on each hand and saving the other in her bag. As she takes in the wide array of lanterns, holographic and physical, around Theed, she bites contemplatively into one. She polishes off one more of them and saves the last two. Licking her fingers clean, she wanders along through the streets.

 

At some point in her journey through the hundreds of light sources and hundred more languages, she stops dead. A Gungan bowls into her and nearly knocks her over. After apologizing as best as she can, she slips into an alley nearby to catch her breath. It's more sparsely decorated than the outside walls, with only a single lantern hanging alongside someone's laundry. 

 

Rey packs away her leftover food and tries to shake the foreboding sensation in her mind. It remains like a black hole in her thoughts, waiting to swallow everything else up.

 

Kylo Ren. He's on the planet. He's close. She can feel it.

 

No. Why would he be here? What could he possibly want? The general wasn't able to come along and the only Resistance operatives are here on leave, like Rey.

 

Maybe he's here on holiday too. Rey snorts bitterly and folds her arms around herself. She simultaneously appreciates and is made uneasy by the lack of fellow life forms in the alley. The only thing nearby is a Tooka that sidles by her ankle at some point, eyes more luminous than the single lantern.

 

She won't let Kylo Ren create another disaster as a milestone in her life. Rey kneels down and contemplatively strokes the Tooka to soothe her nerves. It's just a matter of finding out where he is. She shuts her eyes and tries to focus. There is so much going on in the city and ocean at once, sorting out Kylo's line to the Force is next to impossible if he hides among them--

 

\--wait.

 

A single splotch of gray is in her mind's eye amidst the light and darkness, far from the convulsing masses of people in Theed. Rey feels a tightening in her chest. She opens her eyes, bids farewell to the Tooka, and scales the nearest wall in the alley.

 

Once she reaches the top, Rey peers out past the city skyline.

 

The palace. Of course.

 

She feels him the closer she gets. His essence in the Force may as well be spilling from the waterfalls. He feels her approaching, too, and his Force signature flares with the molten anger she has come to expect. Rey rolls her eyes and withdraws.

 

She leaves the light of the lanterns far behind her as she heads to the palace. Rey makes it to the plaza outside to find it barren. Theed Palace looms, gorgeous and imposing. The very air smells wet with the waterfalls flanking the building and fresh with the well-tended gardens. There doesn’t appear to be anyone around. The royal family and staff are presumably enjoying the festivities in the city. Good. She wouldn’t want any potential for casualties in her confrontation with Kylo.

 

The door is locked, so Rey scales one of the sheer walls to get to a window left cracked open, a feat she doubts she would be able to even begin to attempt if any of the royal guard had been around. She drops down on the other side with a soft thud of her boots on the marble floor.

 

The sheer size of the entryway alone is staggering. He could be anywhere. Fortunately for Rey, Kylo makes it easy for her.

 

“Scavenger!”

 

The modulated voice booms in the confines of the chamber. Rey looks up and sees him standing at the top of the landing between the double staircases, framed between two massive columns. He looks out of place here, the ragged gray and harshly glinting silver of his ensemble almost tacky against the backdrop of creamy, marbled white and inlaid gold. 

 

“I should have known you would have something to do with this,” he says, shaking his head and walking a slow line to the other side of the staircase, then back again.

 

“What are you doing here?” Rey asks, her hand hovering over her saber.

 

“Fulfilling my destiny.” 

 

Kylo’s answer is frustratingly vague and he does not appear interested in saying more as he leans on the railing and peers down at her. 

 

“You have no idea why you’re here, do you?” Rey unhooks her saber from her belt.

 

His hands had been in loose fists that grow tighter at her question, the creak of leather loud in the chamber. 

 

Kylo leans forward. “I have a bit more of an idea than you. Or did you make a special trip just to see me?”

 

Rey grinds her teeth as she finally ignites her lightsaber. “You’re not supposed to be here. I came to get you to leave.”

 

“You’ll be sorry you didn’t just enjoy the festival, scavenger.” He unlatches his saber from his side and turns it on in one fluid motion. 

 

Rey charges with her saber and Kylo leaps over the railing before crashing down to meet her. His weight and gravity make her arms shake a little when she parries his blow, but she’s able to get his blade to skim across the line of hers rather than slipping over it and managing to hit her with his first move. 

 

Burning sparks fly everywhere in an explosive crash as their sabers meet again and again, tiny specks of heat and light that force her to squint in their wake. She makes a cut down, up, back. He meets every strike. 

 

Kylo begins to return attacks, beating her blade while she holds it up horizontally to block him. Utilizing a trick she’d learned on Jakku, she bashes him hard on the side of his right knee with her heel once he’s midway through one of his swings. His attack veers off to one side along with his balance, but the momentum was too strong for him to stop it completely. The tip of his lightsaber plunges into the tile at their feet.

 

The both of them stare down at the resulting dark, smoking blotch on the creamy tile for a moment, their respective lightsabers held limply at their sides. Then:

 

“Look what you did!” Rey blurts.

 

“What I did?” The stiff shock in Kylo’s posture gives way to something leaning more toward aggression again.

 

“Yes, what you did. Or did you not notice it was your shoddy lightsaber that just wrecked the floor?”

 

“If you returned my grandfather’s, I wouldn’t be using this one.”

 

“Not likely,” Rey scoffs, holding up said lightsaber again as all the warning she gives him before making a stab at him while his guard is down. 

 

He deflects it and they are back at it again.

 

At some point, an especially hard strike shifts her overhead block so far down that his saber almost hits her eyes. The sparks alone get dangerously close and Rey is temporarily blinded. 

 

She expects that blindness to become permanent with his next move. Her arms tremble trying to keep his lightsaber away. 

 

And then Kylo checks himself. The pressure against her blade decreases ever so slightly and she swears he shuffles back an inch or two. It’s enough room for her to attempt driving her kneecap between his legs. The move ends with her knee hitting his gut thanks to her blindness and overestimation of just how tall he is. Still, she takes pleasure in his grunt and exhalation made into garbled static through his mask.

 

By the time she blinks away the blindness, he’s a good ways away, headed for a darkened hall. His flaring cape taunts her to come chase him, moonlight whitening the fabric before he dips into the deeper shadows, deactivating his lightsaber as he goes.

 

Wary but unable to resist the pull, Rey follows him. The rushing water just outside disguises any noises Kylo’s footsteps and lightsaber may be making. Rey holds her lightsaber aloft in front of her as she edges forward, the ghost-blue light providing some visibility in the deep darkness.

 

She walks through the hall for a while, hearing a whispering whoosh that she comes to realize are the waterfalls she had seen outside. There are a number of them inside as well, deep in a grotto built into the structure of the palace. The ground goes from slippery tile to even more slippery stone. One wrong step will have her plunging into the indeterminately deep water surrounding the natural platforms. Watching her step is nigh impossible with only the light of her lightsaber to go by and slim threads of moonlight that manage to penetrate the cave alongside the water. 

 

Kylo maintains the relative quiet for a while. He almost manages to get the drop on her. But he is more violent and bullheaded than clever. He reactivates his lightsaber as he plunges through one of the falls nearest to Rey with a bellow. Rey yelps in spite of herself as she deflects the blow out of sheer instinct. 

 

They continue to slash and weave between the falls in a deadly dance. Or, at the very least, deadly to a casual spectator. An expert with the graceful weapons would realize the truth—Kylo Ren and Rey have no intention of killing each other, no matter what acidic thoughts slosh through their minds or drip from their lips. 

 

Rey might leave an opening in her defenses for a moment when he knocks her saber to one side with the strength of his blows. He in turn would not take the chance to jab her in the chest or the throat or between the eyes. Meanwhile, Kylo’s brutal and uncontrolled technique gives Rey every opportunity to slip over the numerous saber locks he puts her in. At one point they stand parallel to a waterfall, her saber’s blade all but cradled between his main blade and the shroud emitter for half of the crossguard. All it would take is a twist. Her saber would slice neatly through his chest. The conflict and any possibility for future battles could end. But she doesn’t.

 

“Your footwork is still sloppy,” he observes matter-of-factly with a tilt of his helm.

 

Rey tries to move her feet to match the rest of her body in forms Luke had taught her in spite of herself. Her soft, flat-bottomed boots slide. She flails backwards, saber running far askew. Kylo’s hand shoots out and grabs her by her vest. 

 

“No, I was wrong,” he says. “It’s even sloppier than before.”

 

She blinks at him, then narrows her eyes and swipes at his wrist with her saber. He lets her go and Rey is left to get her balance back by leaning forward hard. She almost stumbles into her adversary, narrowly avoiding coming chest-to-chest with him. Kylo only stares at her through the fathomless visor.

 

“Weren’t you trying to kill me?” Rey asks, exasperated as she straightens up.

 

If he had let her go, she would have surely smashed her head against the rock and the fight would be over in short order.

 

“No,” Kylo says, idly twisting his saber into an arc and then readjusting his grip on the hilt.

 

“Well, you’re doing a poor job of—what do you mean, ‘no’?”

 

“No,” he reiterates, flexing his free hand. “I’m not trying to kill you. If I was, you’d be dead.”

 

“I already have a teacher,” she reminds him, readying her own lightsaber and blowing a stray piece of hair out of her face. “I don’t need this… testing me or wearing me down or whatever it is you’re doing. I don’t need you.”

 

Though she can’t see his face, Rey can imagine Kylo’s pouty lips turning down in a sneer with his next words. “And how are things with Skywalker? Has he finished teaching you to balance rocks and other parlor tricks yet?”

 

They begin to circle each other. She has no real reply for his jibe; Luke had in fact taught her those very things Kylo is now mocking. Still, she opens her mouth to say... something stupid, probably. She gets interrupted by a horrible thundering noise that seems to shake the very walls. The boom is followed by a series of loud crackles like an amplified version of Kylo's lightsaber.

 

She freezes and feels the blood drain from her face. Had this been a trick? Was Kylo meant to lure her here in order to distract from a far larger-scale attack outside? Stars, if the First Order was attacking on her watch--how would she explain to the general--

  
  
  


Rey's reaction to fireworks is almost comical. Her attention is entirely diverted from him as she looks around like a startled animal. Kylo is amused until she takes a step back. She's too far away for him to have the time to grab her by the vest again and ends up falling in the water. There is a hard slap as her back hits the surface. Kylo winces despite himself.

 

"Fool," he mutters to make up for his moment of sympathy. 

 

His grandfather's lightsaber remains ignited in her hand as a result of its sturdy make and he can make out her struggling body beneath the water thanks to the blue light. Kylo initially pays more attention to the weapon than her. If she drops it, there will be hell to pay. It had become clear to him that the Force had brought him here to reclaim what she had taken. Here, in an ancestral home to his bloodline, he would take back what rightfully belonged to him.

 

Rey's head bobs to the surface for a second, long enough for her to take a breath before she dips back down again. She's flailing. The lightsaber turns to a blur in the clear water. With all the time that Skywalker had spent training her in the ways of the Force with water, Kylo assumed that she had been taught how to swim. Apparently not. 

 

Rey's terror surges through her Force signature as she swallows a mouthful of water.

 

"Fool," Kylo says again as he tears off his helmet and cape.

 

He leaves his lightsaber activated and balances it on the pommel, an overblown lantern that casts enough garish red light to keep the platform illuminated. He has no doubts that it would break if he took it in the water with him; though he would never admit it aloud, Rey is not off with her assessment of the quality of his lightsaber. It is chock full of hastily cobbled together joints and seams just waiting to let water in to short-circuit.

 

Without any further hesitation, Kylo steps off of the platform and into the water. His armored gambeson still weighs heavily on him, but he does not have the time to strip entirely before jumping in for her. Even with all his remaining layers, it’s freezing. Kylo's lips pull back from his teeth. Hauling her up by leaning over the edge of the stone platform may have been more practical, but her flailing forced her too far away. To make matters worse, Rey tries to slash him with the lightsaber blade when he hits the water. 

 

Of all the ungrateful--

 

She misses with the weapon, but still lands a wild kick on his arm when he reaches for her. There's nothing for it. She prefers the idea of drowning them both instead of letting him rescue her. Kylo knocks Rey out with the Force, pinching just the right nerve in her brain. Her eyes, glassy with panic, slide closed and her body goes limp. She drops the lightsaber and drifts on her back.

 

Kylo catches the hilt neatly in his hand before it can sink too far. He deactivates it as he pulls her to him, lifting her head above the surface and keeping it there. His swimming skills are more practiced but only marginally less clumsy than hers with his clothes weighing him down, so it takes him a good minute to paddle his way back to the platform with Rey and his grandfather's lightsaber in tow. 

 

His own lightsaber is there waiting, unstable blades sputtering like torch flames in the darkness. By its red light, Kylo shoves Rey on top of the stone platform before climbing up himself. He stands over and looks down at her for a moment, water dripping off of his hair and the tip of his nose as he clips his grandfather's saber to his belt.

 

Rey shivers. His first instinct is to hold her close before belatedly remembering he's just as soaking wet and cold. He picks up his cape and bundles her in it instead.  Leaving his own lightsaber and helmet behind for the moment, Kylo carries her out of the depths of the darkness and back into the moonlit main hall.

 

He has no responsibility to the scavenger girl. Again and again she's rejected his offers to help, even now. But simply taking the lightsaber back and leaving her to suffer alone as if she's no better than that traitorous stormtrooper feels wrong.

 

The fireworks are still going on outside, sending splashes of color amidst the otherwise white light. He stills by a window for a moment, taking in the view that the palace offered of Theed. The fireworks look spectacular against the clear sky.

 

It's not the first time he thinks Rey might appreciate what had initially scared her so much if she got a better look at what it actually is.

 

Kylo turns away, but the spots of light still stain the back of his eyelids when he blinks. Unfamiliar as he is with the layout of the palace, he simply wanders until he comes upon a library, and more importantly, a couch. He sets her down and looks over her for a moment. His cape is large enough to swath her like a cocoon.

 

Kylo turns around, planning on going back to the underground grotto to retrieve his lightsaber and helmet. He's set out to do all he needs to here. Rey can find her own way.

  
  
  


Rey wakes up to hear the same explosive noises that had caused her to fall in the water. The panic returns full-force, not even allowing herself a moment to wonder where she is. She rolls off of the couch she is laying on, then has some difficulty getting up because she's tangled in heavy fabric. She wrests herself from it, stands up, and dashes to a window between wall-to-wall bookcases.

 

Instead of seeing Theed in flames, there is only the gentle glow of many lanterns. The source of the explosions are high in the sky and in prettier colors than anything she expected the First Order to use. 

 

The tension leaves Rey's shoulders. She breathes a sigh of relief. This must be a custom for the festival that she just wasn't aware of. Everything's okay. To further add to her relief, there's a temporary pause in the fireworks.

 

At this point she takes a moment to consider what had happened to lead her to this point. She fell in the water. She's still damp from that. And Kylo Ren--

 

Kylo Ren! Rey glances at the crumpled fabric on the floor; it's his cape. She gropes at her side to confirm her fear: her lightsaber is gone. 

 

"Pfassking--"

 

Her hand drifts to her canvas bag. She pulls out the bread buns she saved inside, now thoroughly soaked. She bites into one that the jelly has begun to ooze out of. They managed to stay together enough that they're edible and there's no way she is going to waste them. The bread is formless and gooey and the jelly near liquid, but it's not terrible. She takes another contemplative bite as she sets about trying to figure out the way back to the main hall from this vast library.

 

Kylo is no doubt long gone with her lightsaber, so there's little point in trying to see if his Force signature is nearby. Rey had been able to sense him from incredibly far distances--light years away--but she didn't mention that to Luke and tried her best to keep it from herself, as well.

 

He's gone, she tells herself again.

 

But he had stuck around long enough to wrap her up and leave her here instead of drowning in that grotto. She almost regrets lashing out when he jumped in. Almost.

 

Rey shuts her eyes and stretches out her senses. There's no harm in trying.

 

To her shock, the firebrand of Force energy that is Kylo feels like it's about to enter the room. Rey's eyes snap back open to confirm it. The door opens. Rey has to stifle a laugh. He's not very intimidating maskless and soaking wet. To be fair, she probably doesn't look much better.

 

"I'd have thought you'd be off-planet by now," she says.

 

He sets his helmet and lightsaber on a side table drawer, giving her a full view of where her lightsaber hangs from his belt like a trophy. Rey bristles and contemplates trying to yank it from him with the Force as she had on Starkiller. Somehow she doubts he will be caught unawares again.

 

When he finally addresses her, he says, "I decided I'm too attached to that cape to leave it in the custody of a desert rat."

 

It's a poor excuse and they both know it. Rey scoops the cape off of the floor, bundles it, and tosses it at him nonetheless. Kylo catches the cape, looks down at it, then back up at her.

 

"Don't look so surprised. I just don't want to owe you anything. Here," she says, waving the uneaten soggy bread bun before throwing it at him.

 

She aims for his face, but he transfers his cape to one arm and snatches the bread out of the air before it can connect. 

 

Kylo looks at the sodden bread. "This is what I get for saving your life?"

 

"Don't make it sound so dramatic. You were the one endangering my life. No, that's what you get for tucking me in." 

 

Why he had bothered still escaped her. It didn't fit with his track record of kidnapping, torture, and murder.

 

"The only thing that put you in danger," Kylo says, unbundling his rumpled cape and pinning it to his shoulders while holding the bread bun at length, "was your own fear of fireworks."

 

Right on cue, the explosions start going off outside again. Rey flinches, then glares at Kylo when he smiles. He has the good grace to take a bite of the bread bun to try to hide it. He looks almost human like that.

 

Rey looks away, confounded, and takes a few steps towards the window to watch the display. Much to her consternation, he joins her. The huge palace window is more than large enough for him to stand further away, but he stands right next to her instead. Rey knows she should push him or make more distance by stepping away herself, but instead she just keeps eating the remainder of her bread bun. She may as well enjoy their informal truce while it lasts.

 

"So... they're called fireworks?" Rey asks in between bites as she takes in a yellow-white flurry.

 

"Mm."

 

A red-orange pattern that reminds Rey of a flower explodes into the sky next. "Are they safe?"

 

Kylo snorts. "No. They've been known to give massive burns or kill if they're set off too close to life forms."

 

"Oh." 

 

Hard to believe something so pretty could be on the same level of the bombs Rey had feared they were. She eats the rest of the bread bun and rests her hands on the windowsill.

 

"I'm sure that it's being kept safe for the festivities," Kylo adds quickly, awkwardly.

 

Rey glances at him to discover he's already looking at her.

 

"How would you know?" She asks.

 

"I don't. I just didn't want to upset you."

 

"You care about my feelings but not about stealing from me?" She doesn't mean for the barb to happen, but it slips out as she looks down at the lightsaber at his hip.

 

His expression darkens and for a split second Rey almost believes that he's going to unbelt the lightsaber and rend her limb from limb with it. Then he stuffs the rest of the bread bun into his mouth, chews it with more furiosity than is at all necessary, and walks over to his helmet and lightsaber.

 

Kylo picks up the latter, then turns to her. "Scavengers like trading, don't they?"

 

"You think I want that unstable mess?" Rey scoffs. "I'm surprised it hasn't blown your hand off."

 

"Take this or nothing at all," Kylo says, closing the distance between them once again and extending the black, wire-covered hilt out to her. "I'm no thief; I'm taking back what belongs to me. But if it would make you feel better to have something of mine in exchange for my grandfather's lightsaber, this is it."

 

Rey looks down. He offers the vented lightsaber to her hilt first, the activator exposed between his forefinger and thumb. Rey's lips part. Does he realize the level of danger he's putting himself in?

 

A glance at his eyes confirms that he does. And... for whatever reason, Rey can't bring herself to take advantage of the gift-wrapped opportunity he’s presented to her.

 

Maybe the excess light from the fireworks and lanterns and her close near-scrape with a lightsaber blade blinded her in more ways than one. Maybe it's that if she looks at him just right when the fireworks illuminate his face she can see his father in his features. Maybe it's that he stupidly, blindly trusts her not to take her life the way he hadn't taken hers. Or maybe it's the Force.

 

No matter what the reason, the weapon remains unlit when Rey accepts it, leaving the crackling red illumination to the next round of fireworks.

 

Kylo's hand drops. "I didn't think you'd actually take it."

 

Rey shakes her head, already calculating how she'll get her rightful lightsaber back... sometime when there isn't a fireworks display she’d like to be watching.

 

Holding Kylo's lightsaber at her side, Rey says, "Get out of here, creature."

 

There. She can at least say she attempted to fulfill what she set out to do.

 

"Don't tell me what to do, scavenger."

 

Nevertheless, he leaves, regardless of her lack of authority to kick him out. He pulls his helmet through the air with the Force and places it on his head as he walks. His cape has dried off enough to still have some flair to it when he leaves the room, but Rey has no temptation to follow him this time.

 

Instead she turns back to the window. She can admire the smatters of light against the night sky, safe from danger in the palace walls.


End file.
